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Published 2008 | Published
Journal Article Open

Gas-Phase Photodegradation of Decane and Methanol on TiO_2: Dynamic Surface Chemistry Characterized by Diffuse Reflectance FTIR

Abstract

Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) was used to study illuminated TiO2 surfaces under both vacuum conditions, and in the presence of organic molecules (decane and methanol). In the presence of hole scavengers, electrons are trapped at Ti(III)–OH sites, and free electrons are generated. These free electrons are seen to decay by exposure either to oxygen or to heat; in the case of heating, reinjection of holes into the lattice by loss of sorbed hole scavenger leads to a decrease in Ti(III)–OH centers. Decane adsorption experiments lend support to the theory that removal of surficial hydrocarbon contaminants is responsible for superhydrophilic TiO2 surfaces. Oxidation of decane led to a mixture of surface-bound organics, while oxidation of methanol leads to the formation of surface-bound formic acid.

Additional Information

Copyright © 2008 William Balcerski et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Received 24 July 2007; Accepted 4 January 2008. Recommended by Russell Howe. We are grateful to the Hydrogen Energy Research & Development Center and 21st Century Frontier Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Korea for research support. Supplementary support was generously provided by the Northrop-Grumman Corporation. Special issue dedicated to the second international conference on semiconductor photochemistry. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/volume-2008/si.sp2.html

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Created:
August 22, 2023
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October 16, 2023